In a recent US case Royal Crown Company, Inc., Dr
Pepper/Seven Up, Inc., Vs. The Coca-Cola Company, the
Coca-Cola Company applied for the registration of the term ZERO in
order to claim exclusive rights over it and monopolize use of the
term.
The appellants, Royal Crown Company, Inc. and Dr Pepper/Seven Up
Inc. (hereinafter referred to as "Royal Crown") and Coca
Cola Company, both market various brands of beverages. ZERO is used
by both companies to indicate the calorie count or sugar content in
their respective products.
Coca Cola, filed for several marks containing the term ZERO,
viz., Sprite ZERO, Coca Cola Zero, Fanta ZERO, etc. and asserted
that they were exclusively entitled to use ZERO as an element in
their marks since the consumers identified ZERO with only their
brands. The Patent and Trademark Office granted registrations to
Coca Cola based on their assertion.
